What can you say about Ivan Nova? There’s no chance anyone thought he’d come up and be this good against 2 decently armed offenses. He’s making his push for the playoff roster, and could end up being a huge gun out of the ‘pen.

I can’t get too excited about Cervelli’s 4 hit night because of how cold he’s been. Before yesterdays game, Cervelli needed 12 games (36 PA) to gather 4 hits.

How hot is Marcus Thames? That’s his 5th home run in the past 4 starts he’s made. People like to talk about all the bad moves Cashman’s made during the offseason, this is one that he got right. With A-Rod and Tex down, he couldn’t have gotten hot at a better time.

Combine this win with Tampa’s, and Boston is now a comfortable 6.5 games back from a playoff spot. The Yanks are almost at the point of cruise control.

Comments on August 29th @ The White Sox

One of the most improbable wins of the year. A pitcher just a handful of innings out of AAA holds the hottest hitting offense—and one that scored 9 runs in each the previous 2 games—to a single, scratch run. Francisco Cervelli goes 4 for 4, scores the run that proves to be the margin of victory, and guns down a would-be base stealer at Second just moments before a base hit might probably have plated the tying run elsewise. Who wouldda thunk it?

My expectations regarding Nova were much more affected than those regarding Cervelli. After all this represents 50% of my experience of Nova as a big league pitcher, so it has a huge effect. It represents a much smaller percentage of my experience of Cervelli, which trends towards telling me that he has now been over-exposed and is unlikely to see those early numbers again.

Not to worry, though. We have big catching prospects in the offing, and we got the best of Cervelli at a time when we really needed it.